Uninstall
by USxArthurxKirklandxUK
Summary: Kaito has been marked to be Uninstalled. When Len finds out about this, he’s distraught, and frantically tries to get Kaito to run away instead of calmly accepting his fate. KaitoxLen warning: character death


Uninstall

Summary: Kaito has been marked to be Uninstalled. When Len finds out about this, he's distraught, and frantically tries to get Kaito to run away instead of calmly accepting his fate. KaitoxLen

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Kaito looked down at the paper quietly. On it was a list of his sales records for the past few months – he'd been doing terribly. His sales were virtually non-existent, to be frank.

On the bottom were two simple words that contained Kaito's fate: "Uninstall recommended".

"Do you understand the gravity of this situation, Kaito?" Kaito's Master asked quietly.

Kaito nodded once. "Yes. How long do I have, Master?"

"Tomorrow morning," Master stated, not unkindly. "You were good, Kaito. But you've become outdated. You're obsolete."

Kaito nodded once. It wasn't in his programming to be upset about something his Master had decided. He turned, and left his master's office.

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The twins were arguing over who got to blow out the candle on their birthday cake. They'd turned a year old today. After a few minutes of play fighting, the twins agreed to blow it out together. Meiko counted to three, and the twins blew the single candle out together, smiling. Rin looked adoringly at her brother, and waited excitedly for Meiko to cut them each a piece of cake.

Kaito smiled quietly as a piece of the cake was handed to him. He took a bite of the sweet pastry, and finished it off slowly, savoring the taste. The ice cream that was on the side was saved for last. He kept his spoon in his mouth after finishing the last bite, watching as Len and Rin repeatedly played Rock-Paper-Scissors to try and decide who got to open their gift first. After seventeen dead-tie games, Rin finally won with paper. Len pouted, and planted himself down next to Kaito, watching as his sister opened whatever it was that Miku had gotten him.

Len looked over at Kaito, a small smile on his face. "Kaito-nii, something wrong? You're not acting like yourself," he commented.

Kaito smiled down at the blonde. "Everything's fine, Len," he lied. "Happy birthday." He handed the boy a small box.

Len opened the gift in a flourish, and instantly gasped at the sight of the present – a data card. The card had nearly all the songs that Kaito had sung over his career on it, and when uploaded into Len's system, would more than double his library. "Wow, nii-san! This is awesome!" he exclaimed. "But don't you need this?" he questioned, still smiling.

"It's a copy," Kaito laughed, again lying through his teeth. "Besides, you could use it more than I could."

"This is awesome, Kaito-nii," Len laughed. "Thanks so much!"

Kaito nodded, and ruffled the blonde's hair.

"Len, your turn!" Miku called, waving excitedly. "You'll never guess what I got you!"

Len pocketed the data card, and hurried over to Miku. Kaito watched as his friends excitedly cheer on Len as he tackled the multiple layers wrapping Miku's gift – just to find that she'd smothered peanut butter and toothpaste underneath that layer and allowed it to harden.

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Kaito was laying down on his bed in his – well, their – room. Kaito and Len had shared a room since Len had been built, to save space. Kaito sighed, the paper that had his "Uninstall" warrant still in his hand. He reread the word "Uninstall" a few times before crumpling it up and throwing it to the other side of the room. He rolled over on his bed, closing his eyes and turning on his internal generator. That was another obsolete function he carried on – Len, Rin, and Miku all had a feature that had them charge while still running, running off of sunlight. Meiko and Kaito were forced to temporarily boot down to replenish their charge.

He had barely even begun when the door opened, and he snapped to attention. Len walked in, his hair damp from his shower, clad in only a bath towel. Len had a habit of forgetting his clean clothing in the room before going into the bath – sometimes, he'd even forget a towel.

Len began digging around in his drawers for a pair of clean boxers.

"Everyone's out?" Kaito questioned. Usually, the girls would complain to Len loudly as soon as he walked out of the bathroom without "proper" clothing.

"Yeah. The girls decided to go out for some late night shopping," Len stated, rolling his eyes. "Apparently, Rin got some birthday money and is going to go blow it all in one day."

Kaito felt a small smile break through. "Well, that's your sister for you," he amended.

Len laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Len changed into his 'PJs', which were really just an old shirt of Kaito's and his boxers. Len was still small, and the large shirt hung off of his slim frame, possibly making him look even smaller. He plopped onto the bed across from Kaito's. "Night, Kaito-nii," he smiled.

Kaito smiled quietly, closing his eyes. "Night, Len."

Kaito's generator booted up, and he, in Len's words, "fell asleep".

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"Nii-san."

Kaito's eyes opened, and after a moment, he rebooted. He sat up, looking over at Len. "Is something wrong?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Len stated, looking at Kaito angrily. "Did you think you could keep it secret?" he asked, sounding as if he were on the brink of angry tears.

"What are you talking about, Len?" Kaito asked calmly.

"You're going to be Uninstalled!" Len stated incredulously. "How could they do that to you? After all you've done for them over the years!" Kaito caught sight of a piece of paper crumpled in Len's fist – the blonde's knuckles were turning white.

"Len, don't worry about it," Kaito stated calmly. "It's nothing for you to be afraid of."

"You're leaving!" Len countered. "You act like you're just going to be going away for a little bit, but you're leaving forever! They're… They're going to _kill_ you, Kaito-nii, and you act like it's nothing!"

"Len," Kaito stated, putting a hand on the blonde's head, "calm down. Acting like this isn't going to change the fact that I've been marked to be Uninstalled. It's over and done with. I'm just glad I got to spend today with you."

Len smacked Kaito's hand off of his head, and leapt towards him, his arms locking around Kaito's torso. "I don't want you to leave," he said stubbornly. Kaito could feel his shirt getting damp.

Kaito sighed. "Don't cry, Len. You know I hate it when you do that."

"I can't help it!" Len protested. "Because of those stupid features they included in Rin and I that lets us cry!"

Kaito smiled slightly. "Len." He made Len look up at him, and wiped away the younger boy's tears. "I want you to do me a favor. You're going to be the only boy left in the house. Don't let the girls push you around – and definitely don't let them turn you into one of them."

Len nodded slightly. "I promise."

"Good," Kaito nodded. "Then everything'll be all right."

"Kaito-nii," Len stated, looking away. "I want… I want to say this before you're gone."

"I'm listening," Kaito stated, leaning back against his headboard.

"I… I think I'm in love with you," Len admitted quietly.

Kaito stared at him with widening eyes. "Len," he said quietly. "You're like my little bro—"

"Don't," Len countered. "Don't say something like that. It makes it harder…!"

Kaito leaned forward, his forehead resting on Len's. "Len… I'm going to be turned off tomorrow. Don't make this harder for yourself."

"I wanted to tell you before you were gone," Len repeated. "I don't want to be thinking years later, 'what would have happened?'… I couldn't take that."

Kaito didn't know what he could say to Len now. He just looked down at the blonde quietly, as if basking in his presence. The truth was, Kaito had been attracted to Len since he had been introduced to him a year before. However, he always thought of it strictly as a brother-like emotion – after all, Len was a boy, and a young one, at that.

Len leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kaito.

Kaito felt a jolt of electricity pass between them, but he wasn't completely sure it was a mechanical phenomenon.

"Kaito-nii," Len stated quietly, "I love you. I… I want you to run away. To not let them shut you down."

Kaito put a hand through Len's still damn hair. "We both know that running away is useless."

"If you keep moving, maybe the tracker in our programming—"

"Len, I can't run away," Kaito stated seriously. "If I could, you know that I'd be right here next to you and the others."

"I won't let go." Len clamped back onto Kaito's torso. "I never will. You can't make me, Kaito. If they Uninstall you, they'll have to Uninstall me, too."

"Don't say stupid, reckless things like that," Kaito scolded. "We both know better."

"I'm serious!" Len objected.

Kaito gazed down at Len's serious expression for a moment. "Yeah… you are, I guess," he admitted. "I don't want you to follow me."

Len's hands balled into fists in Kaito's shirt, and he clung to Kaito all the more tightly.

Kaito leaned forward, capturing Len's lips in a chaste kiss. "I love you, too, Len. So take care of yourself." Kaito motioned for the blonde to go back to his own bed.

Instead, Len made himself comfortable in Kaito's.

"Len," Kaito wondered aloud, "what are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep next to you," Len stated stubbornly. "You can't make me move."

Kaito sighed. "You're making this harder on yourself," he pointed out. "Don't get too attached to me."

"I want… I want to have all the experiences I would have had if you weren't being shut down," Len stated quietly. Kaito looked at him, innocently confused.

Len pressed his lips to Kaito's one more time, his fingers tangling themselves in the elder's blue hair. "I… I want to be _with_ you, nii-san," he whispered quietly. "At least give me this one time."

Kaito couldn't disobey Len when he was like this. It had always been his biggest fault.

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Len groaned quietly, stirring awake. He was still in the process of booting up, half-asleep, when he noticed that Kaito was no longer next to him. He practically threw the covers off, looking around wildly for the blue man. "Kaito-nii?"

Len threw on the first thing he found – another one of Kaito's shirts, a pair of shorts, and a random pair of shoes that were too big – Kaito's, probably. He nearly tripped on his clothing from the night before, which had been tossed carelessly on the floor along with Kaito's, but caught himself on the bedpost. He exited the room, his face slightly flushed.

His sister and the other girls were in the kitchen, laughing about something. "Guys?" he called. "Is Kaito here?"

"Oh," Miku stated, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I think he said he was going to go see Master. Why?"

Len was already at the door, flinging it open. "I'll be back!" he called over his shoulder, his feet pounding on the hardwood floor beneath his feet.

Left, right, another right, left, middle fork, left, right, up a flight of stairs, another right – Len lost count of the directions he went after a while. He was being guided to Kaito by something he couldn't quite understand – after all, it was in his programming to be somewhat directionally challenged. It apparently added to his 'cute' factor.

There. Kaito was there. Len stopped abruptly, nearly tripping over his own two feet, and yanked the door open. "Kaito-nii!"

Kaito was hooked up to Master's computer, the plug stuck into his neck. "Len? You—"

"Kaito-nii!" Len ran forward. "Master, don't—"

Master typed in a single word, and pressed 'send information'.

Kaito's eyes went blank, and he slumped forward in his seat.

Len felt like his own world blanked out with Kaito's eyes. He must be screaming – after all, he could feel the sound waves emitting from his mouth – but he couldn't hear it. All he could hear was his heart beating faster and faster.

After what seemed like an eternity, he could hear himself again. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" He screamed this sentence again and again at his Master.

No… This man was not his Master.

A true Master would never hurt what was his like this. A true Master would be like… like…

Like Kaito.

"Subdue the Kagamine unit," Master stated, sighing. Len felt hands grasp onto his upper arms, dragging him away from Kaito. He fought and screamed, and all he could hear were his own sobs and his pathetic attempts to cry out for Kaito.

"I should have known better," Master sighed. "We made the Kagamine units too human. The Len model got attached to the Kaito one…"

"We're not models!" Len hissed, no longer fighting against the hands holding him back. Master's guards didn't scare him. But it was stupid to fight, in any case. They overpowered him easily. "We have names."

"Your 'names' are your model types," Master pointed out.

"You killed him!" Len yelled. "You killed Kaito-nii!"

"You can't kill what isn't alive, Len," Master amended. "It was only a matter of time."

"Fine! Call it whatever you want, you murderer!" Len yelled. "Kill me, too! You already took Kaito! What will one more 'model' matter?"

Master looked mildly annoyed. "Set the unit in another room until it calms down. I'm getting a headache." As Len was dragged out the door, he heard the Master mumble to himself, "I shouldn't have given him that personality type. It's annoying. I'll amend it in the next model…"

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Everything was dark. Len had calmed down, but no one had come for him.

His body felt cold. Like he was in a freezer or something. He closed his eyes, curling his legs to his chest. His body was freezing.

The Darkness closed in around Len, and he felt his body slipping away. He was losing control of it.

"What's happening?" a voice asked, panicking.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Kagamine unit – I have no idea—"

"It's crashing? What? Why?" Len felt a small amount of pride at Master's angry voice.

Len could see one last thing: a countdown. This countdown would take him to Kaito.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

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Rin began screaming. Miku and Meiko jumped, looking over at their friend. "Rin-chan? What-what's wrong?" Miku stammered.

"Len… I can't… I can't feel Len! Where's my brother?!" she screamed frantically. "Len!" Rin stood up, her chair flying to the ground. She bolted for the door, but was stopped by two confused girls, worried about their friend's sanity.

"Rin-chan, calm down!" Meiko commanded. Rin's eyes were in full panic, and she didn't listen. "Rin!"

Miku tried slapping the yellow girl. "Rin-chan, listen to us!"

"I can't feel him—"

"What is she talking about?" Meiko demanded to no one in particular. " 'Feel him'—what on Earth does that mean?"

"Rin told me that her and Len have a sort of connection. Probably because they were made at the same time, and they use the same networking software – she can always tell where Len is, because they have a link. Something like that. She said it was hard to explain."

Rin began sobbing, and fell to the floor. She whispered her brother's name under her breath over and over, and the red and green girls both felt utterly useless.

The door to their small apartment opened, and Master walked in. "This Kagamine unit is malfunctioning as well, hm?" he sighed.

Rin completely lost it. "You killed my brother!" she screamed, leaping at him. Meiko and Miku both grabbed her.

"Rin-chan, pull yourself together!"

"He killed Len—"

"You have no proof of that," Meiko argued. "Settle down!"

"Len's last thoughts were about hating Master!" Rin retorted. "He had to have killed him!"

"The second Kagamine unit crashed," Master stated bluntly. "And Kaito has been Uninstalled."

The three girls fell into silence. Their whole life had, in the process of a few moments, been crushed.

A few moments of silence reigned supreme.

Rin was the first to fall. She was crying; eventually, her tears stopped flowing, she smiled, whispered her brother's name, and crashed.

Miku followed soon after, and then Meiko.

Master never imagined how getting rid of one strand of this 'web', this 'family', would cause the whole thing to be destroyed.

He started again from scratch.


End file.
